In 2019, China beat the US by securing the largest number of patents for innovation in AI tech. And currently, more than half of the world’s 770 million CCTV cameras are located in China. Facial recognition software is used extensively in China to arrest dissidents.
Dr. Eric Schmidt, an ex-Google chief executive now serves as chair of the US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. He has also been warning that it is important that the U.S. beat China in AI.
“We’re in a geo-political strategic conflict with China,” Schmidt says. “The way to win is to marshal our resources together to have national and global strategies for the democracies to win in AI. If we don’t, we’ll be looking at a future where other values will be imposed on us.”
Project Maven goes public
In 2016, while still employed, as the chairman of Alphabet, Google’s parent company Dr. Schmidt became an adviser to the Pentagon. Since then, Google has been working on a variety of contracts with the Pentagon.
